She thought her life was over – but fate gave her another chance, in a world of magic. Now, running around Hogwarts with James Potter and his friends, she's about to make choices that will change the future in ways she never thought possible…
Marauder's Phase
CHAPTER NINETY-ONE
What Bellatrix Said
The skies remained bright and virtually cloudless over the next few weeks, which was good for those of us who were taking Care Of Magical Creatures and Herbology. We knew it was going to start snowing soon, so we took advantage of the clear skies while they lasted. I also didn't have to convince the others to stay at Hogwarts during the holidays – everyone seemed to want to stick around this year, and I suspected it might just have a little something to do with the Yule Ball. I really just wanted to stay because it was my last chance to spend Christmas at Hogwarts…
Meanwhile, the entire school was anticipating the arrival of the delegations from Durmstrung and Beauxbatons – and the classes were getting harder…not just because it was our final year and we had exams.
The teachers seemed to be making certain that we were all going to make Hogwarts look like a top-notch school, because it was a great honour to be chosen and all – even though I still had no idea why we'd been chosen, or even how…wasn't there a war going on at the moment?
Professor Slughorn had us brewing The World's Most Difficult Potions – that was actually what the ten of them were called, and included Felix Felicis (liquid luck), Polyjuice Potion, Amortentia, Veritaserum and Draught of Living Death. We didn't actually get to keep them, whether we'd made them right or not – Slughorn whisked the liquid luck away from us all before we'd even gotten a chance to look at it properly – but we were all highly interested with the Amortentia, and took turns examining the perfect one Lily had managed to concoct before Slughorn came around to empty our cauldrons.
"Strawberries." James said immediately. "And…hmm…cat hair…" He glanced at Lily. "As well as new parchment…and nail polish…" Lily blushed, and glanced down at her red painted nails. James smiled.
"Peppermint," Sirius said, smirking at me, and I felt my face colour. "And…green tea…gingerbread cookies…and…roses…like the perfumed soaps you get in the prefect's bathroom…"
"How do you know about that?" Lily raised an eyebrow, and Sirius glanced sideways, not answering. "Oh, never mind…" Sirius looked relieved.
"What's the Amortentia like for you, Ems?" Remus asked me quietly but, somehow, everyone around us seemed to hear – they all stopped talking and glanced at me curiously, as I leaned over the cauldron and tried to ignore the fact that the Slytherins and my fellow Gryffindors were all watching me now.
The Amortentia had a distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen, and the steam rose in characteristic spirals that looked (to me) like love hearts.
I breathed in deeply.
Somehow the seductive scents reminded me of a combination of things…chocolate like the ones you got at Honeydukes…the shampoo some people use on their pets right before pet shows…something that reminded me of the library…fresh, sizzling bacon…the sort of sense you get when you're wandering around at night…and the petrol-y scent of hot metal…
Somehow, I didn't have to wonder what that could mean…I was hardly aware of Bellatrix whispering to one of her friends, or some of the other Slytherins giving me strange looks, or my fellow Gryffindors glancing curiously at me, or Professor Slughorn approaching to collect the potion in a vial…
I didn't realise how far I'd been leaning over the cauldron, however, until I over-balanced. "Whoa…!" I exclaimed, and would've fallen head-first into the Love Potion had Remus not caught me from behind and dragged me back.
"That must've been some Love Potion, Lily." Peter said, impressed.
*
Professor Riberta had us working up in the Astronomy Tower three nights a week, and I wondered why I hadn't just dropped Astronomy when I'd had the chance. I was so tied after awhile that I could barely stay awake, and fell asleep in Professor Binns' History Of Magic class more often than not. So did Sirius. So did Peter. But, that was okay, because we could just get the answers off of Remus. Well, Remus gave me the answers to all our homework, and I gave them to Sirius.
We both helped Peter with his homework, only because he'd wail if we didn't.
"No, it's Baldwin the Bad, not Benjamin the Brutish." I said patiently although, knowing the Goblin Rebels, it was probably all just the same, but Remus had said…
*
In Transfigurations and Charms, we were swamped with so much homework that several people had anxiety attacks and had to be taken aside for counselling. But, that did not stop McGonagall and Flitwick in their tracks whatsoever, and twice I pulled all-nighters in the library trying to get my assignments finished, until Remus found out what I was doing and offered to help me. It came in handy the time I said 's' instead of 'f' and found myself on the floor of the library with a buffalo on my chest. I thought Bellatrix, who had been watching from near to where the Restricted Section is, was going to die laughing as Remus and Madam Pince both rushed to my aid.
*
Professors Sprout and Grubbly-Plank were both keeping us busy in Herbology and Care Of Magical Creatures and, at night, when I wasn't having nightmares about Sirius being eaten by a Hungarian Horntail during the First Task (because, in my mind, he had already been made the Hogwarts Champion), I dreamt about unicorns that had Bubotuber-like boils all over them. I woke up nauseated after those ones, and thoroughly convinced that this whole Triwizard Tournament thing was all just a plot to kill us.
*
But the most difficult of my classes was still my most favourite – Defence Against The Dark Arts. Sirius had been right when he'd said I would like Professor Repleh, who was an ex-Auror and had really been there. She also wasn't insane (or an impostor, as far as I could tell) like the pretend Professor Moody had been, and only dipped very shallowly into the depths of the three Unforgivable Curses, although she seemed rather impressed that Sirius, James, Remus and I had all fought back after being subjected to the Cruciatus Curse, and even more impressed that Remus had been able to fight it off. She herself had only known a few people who had been able to do that. She also said that the more experience you got, the better prepared you would be for any situation in life. It was all about the training.
Repleh spent a lot of time teaching us useful ways to duel – she had us learn immensely powerful shield charms, and we all worked very hard on Non-Verbal Spells, which I was desperately trying to master, because it looked very useful. Repleh was very impressed with the work me and my friends were putting into her class, and even more impressed when James and I tied at the end of a most spectacular practice-duel, our wands at each others throats and half the classroom destroyed. Repleh was strict, and didn't put up with any nonsense, but she also knew when to hand out the praise – and the house points.
The Slytherins gave us all very cold stares after that.
***
Then, in the week leading up to the end of October, something happened that I won't forget for a very long time. A sign had been erected at the foot of the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall that morning, and Sirius, Remus, Peter and I fought our way to the front.
"We're seventh years…"
"Can we get through, please?"
"I'm with her…"
"Move it, fat-boy!"
"Sirius Black, don't be mean!"
"Sorry Ems…kindly reposition yourself so that we may proceed through the crowd, my tubby friend."
"Hi guys!" Tonks was standing at the front of the crowd reading the sign, her hair bright purple and spiky today. "Check this out!" She pointed to the sign.
It read:
-*-
TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
--
The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrung will be arriving at six o'clock on Friday 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early –
--
"Excellent!" Said Sirius and I both.
--
Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast.
--
"Only a week away…" Remus mused thoughtfully as we – along with Tonks – made our way into the Great Hall for breakfast, and she waved to us before going off to the Hufflepuff table to sit with her new friends. I was glad she was fitting in. "I wonder who else wants to enter aside from you, Padfoot…"
We all knew the reason the rest of us weren't going for it – Peter was too scared, I was too determined to not end up like Harry Potter (not that I'd said that, I'd just told them that I wanted to support Sirius, which was true), Lily and James were too busy being head girl and boy, and Remus was too busy running around as a werewolf once a month. There was a full moon on Wednesday night – we'd all decided to keep him company. Me the wolf, Sirius the dog, Peter the rat, and James and Lily the stag and doe respectively. Being the leaders of the student body didn't stop Lily and James caring about their friend. But I don't think either of them felt so strongly about keeping Remus company as what I did, even though we'd all been exhausted after last time.
Lily and James were waiting for us at the Gryffindor table with scrambled eggs and some bad news.
"Bellatrix is entering." Lily said flatly, as we all sat down. "I just heard her saying it…"
"What!?" Sirius yelled, so loudly that people turned to look at us. He lowered his voice, and said furiously: "Bellatrix, the Hogwarts Champion!?" He stabbed at a piece of bacon. "We can't have a Slytherin Champion!"
"Of course not," I said soothingly, pouring us both goblets of pumpkin juice. "That's why we've got you, dear…"
Sirius grinned at me. "How could I get by without you, White Fang?"
"You couldn't." I replied seriously.
***
Over the next few days, it seemed that there was only one topic of conversation on everybody's mind – The Triwizard Tournament. Rumours were flying between students: who was going to try for Hogwarts Champion, what the Tournament would involve, how the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrung differed from themselves.
The last one intrigued me most of all, since I already had some idea of what the students from the two different schools would be like. Were the uni-sex schools like in the movies or co-ed in accordance to the books? Were the Beauxbatons girls all beautiful, and would Madam Maxime be here this time? Who was the Durmstrung headmaster? How were they arriving?
These thoughts crossed my mind as I walked through the halls, which were polished to within an inch of their lives including the portraits, whose occupants sat there with raw, pink faces except for the painting of Roderick Plumpton, who had somehow escaped Filch's cleaning spree and was now zooming around on his broom somewhere on the seventh floor. The suits of armour had been polished and did not squeak when they moved, and every single one of us had been instructed to make sure our uniforms were in top condition. If this meant buying a whole new set of black robes, then so be it.
Members of the staff seemed oddly tense. They told us off for all sorts of little things, and so many people got cleaning detentions within the space of that one single week you couldn't go into the trophy room without being blinded by all the immaculate, sparkling trophies.
"This is to be expected," Lily said, frowning as Filch yelled at a poor second year boy for not wiping his shoes. "After all, we can't resist showing off a bit when we get together…"
"You should see the Quidditch World Cup," James said.
"I've never been." I admitted.
James stared at me in shock. "N-never been!?" He cried. "Well, that'll never do! You can come with us next year, we're all going!"
"Yeah?" I grinned, as we walked past a group of seventh year Slytherin girls. "Well…cool!"
Remus grinned at me. "You're gonna love the Quidditch World Cup, I assure you." He told me confidently.
I nodded. "Oh, I bet I will…"
Remus laughed. "I wouldn't – I know your gambling history, White Fang!"
I hit him lightly on the shoulder. "You're supposed to be on my side, Moony!" I laughed.
***
On Thursday morning, I arrived in the Great Hall very early, having just stayed up the whole night with Remus and been too tired to go to bed afterwards. Sirius, Lily, James and Peter had all trooped back up to the Gryffindor Tower to try and catch a few Z's (yeah, like half an hour of them) and Remus was staying in the hospital wing for a few hours. So, I trudged wearily into the Great Hall, which was thoroughly deserted at this hour, before the sun had even properly risen. The only occupants of the Great Hall were a blue-haired Nymphadora Tonks, sitting by herself at the Hufflepuff table, Professor Slughorn, the only teacher present at this time, a third year Ravenclaw girl who was reading a book, and Bellatrix and Regulus, sitting together at the Slytherin table.
As I walked toward the Gryffindor table, wondering if it would be alright if I fell asleep there after all, I heard Bellatrix's voice echo through the virtually deserted Great Hall.
"It's a wonder Dumbledore lets someone like that come to Hogwarts," She said, and I immediately wondered who she was talking about. I found out soon enough. "I mean, do you really want to go to classes with an emo-goth like Lupin who cuts himself all the time and probably stays up all night performing Satanic rituals on himself…"
I saw red immediately, my already provoked brain going into intense overdrive, as I marched toward Bellatrix. "Bellatrix!" I shouted, and she looked and saw who it was, standing up immediately. Good. "Never speak about Remus like that again!!" I yelled as I reached her, and drew back my fist…
WHAM!!
I punched Bellatrix in the face, sending her staggering backwards as her nose broke and flecks of blood went flying everywhere.
"You have no right to talk about him like that!" I told her, she glared at me, and we both drew our wands at the same time.
"Furnunculus!" She shouted.
"Protego!" I yelled, conjuring up the very same shield we'd been practicing in our DADA class for weeks now, shielding myself from the attack, just as Slughorn came hurrying down from the teacher's table.
"Finite Incantatem!" He shouted, and all of Bellatrix's curses failed, as did my shield charm. Slughorn stood between us, glancing warily from me to a very bloody Bellatrix. "Regulus," He addressed Regulus, whom was a member of the Slug-Club, I knew. "Kindly take your cousin up to the hospital wing, where I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will mend her nose in a heartbeat."
Regulus, who had stood up, nodded, and led Bellatrix out of the Great Hall, after giving me a strange look.
Slughorn looked at me. "Err, Miss. Pax…my office then…" He said, and I consented to follow him out of the Great Hall, with Tonks' eyes boring holes into me all the way from the Hufflepuff table.
I knew I'd get what I deserved, and if that meant that all the school trophies would resemble suns, then so be it.
***
"She insulted my best friend!" I said, in disbelief, because was Slughorn really trying to justify what Bellatrix had done? "I know I shouldn't have punched her, but she hasn't exactly been innocent now, has she?" I was tired, and tired is not good thing to be with a temper like mine. I had stood up, and was pacing angrily now. "You probably only like her because she's in Slytherin, don't you?"
Slughorn looked affronted. "Now, really Miss. Pax, I am not biased toward students of my own house anymore than…"
"You say that, but how can it be true?" I asked, my voice growing more and more shrill – soon, only bats would be able to hear it. "I've seen the way you are, how you have your own little group of students that make it onto The Shelf," I gestured to said shelf. "And, look, what a surprise – most of them are Slytherins! …I must say, that's a good shot of Regulus there…" The Regulus in the picture nodded to me. "Anyway, sir, I know you favour Slytherins, you were probably disappointed that Lily wasn't in Slytherin!"
By this stage, Slughorn was staring at me, his mouth slightly open in shock, as I continued to pace and rant.
"Well, I'm sure you know by now that almost all Slytherins turn out to be Dark Wizards! All of Tom Riddle's friends at school…" I failed to notice the way Slughorn's face paled at the mention of the Dark Lord's birth name. "Why, Tom was a favourite student of yours now, wasn't he? And look at how he turned out – the most dangerous Dark Wizard of all time, complete with an army of followers, a deadly snake and five of those bloody Horcrux things you told him about…" As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I gasped, and clapped my hands over my mouth but the damage was already done.
Slughorn was staring at me with a look of absolute horror on his face and, as I stared at him, all colour drained from it.
I'm sure my face was pale too, as I staggered backwards towards the door. My temper had subsided completely, and now I was feeling so tired and worn out that I thought I might faint. "S-sir, f-forgive me, I'm sorry…it-it wasn't your fault, h-he already knew ab-about them," I stammered, tears coming to my eyes and my hand fumbling for the doorknob, which I found and yanked the door open. "V-Voldemort h-he has a way with w-words…I'm sorry sir!" I cried, and turned. I fled from the office, running down the corridor and through a doorway, pushing past a startled Hufflepuff third year boy, and running down a staircase, throwing myself through a door and into a deserted broom cupboard, which I locked from the inside. Then I sank to the floor amidst the mops and brooms, buried my face in my hands and cried.